On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Matthew 2:11

Who would cause you such awe that you drop to your knees, proclaim “you are so worthy of all I am and every effort I am exerting to get close to you,” and open your online bank account to transfer a sizeable portion of your net worth to their account?

Sound crazy? What about spending 2 hours this Friday or Saturday night to worship Him?

While so many will turn to Matthew 2 and Luke 2 (including us at PCC this coming month) to read the Christmas story, my favorite Christmas passage is out of Philippians 2. Read it S-L-O-W-L-Y!

Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:5-8).

The Christmas story is simply this … God, in Jesus, emptied himself completely, unzipping Heaven and eternity to come to earth to rescue His creation who ran from His reign.

What is the response He wants from us?

Receive the gift of new life that He came to earth to bring to every human being, and worship Him with all that we are.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ Mark 12:20

This Friday night, we are kicking off our Simply Christmas series with a Night of Worship. It is a gift for the whole church to gather, focus on Jesus, be led in worship with our new Worship Arts Pastor Ian Pitter, and reflect on how worthy Jesus is in the midst of a strong cultural current that makes this time of year all about consumption. This is an amazing opportunity to set Jesus central in our lives, as well as to gather as the whole church. We kick off at 7:00pm in the Worship Center … don’t miss it!

Want a more traditional worship experience? This Saturday night, the church will gather again for a hymn-driven, Jesus-centered, and centuries-old tradition (you can read about its history here) called A Service of Lessons and Carols. Again, it starts at 7:00pm in the Worship Center.

Our goal this coming Advent season is to live in awe and wonder of the simple story of Christmas: Jesus came to the rescue because in Heaven’s eyes, we are more sinful and flawed than we ever dared believe, yet more loved and accepted in Jesus than we ever dared hope.